May 2 – Out With The Old, In With The New…Order

A big day two times over on the calendar of Stephen Morris, Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner . On this day in 1980, they, who along with Ian Curtis comprised Joy Division, played Birmingham University about three years after their first appearance. It was also just two weeks shy of their embarking on a major American tour. By this time they had a sizeable UK following – and problems. Singer Ian Curtis was epileptic and actually had a seizure onstage during the show, although he did return later for an encore. Little did anyone know, that would be the last appearance by the band.

Ian was also depressed and between that night and the U.S. tour his wife left him. The night before they were to leave, Curtis hanged himself. Factory Records Tony Wilson later said “we all completely under-estimated the danger…we didn’t take it seriously.” Weeks later their most successful single, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” came out. Coincidentally, the band played a new song on this concert – “Ceremony”, which went on to be the debut of the spin-off band, New Order. Speaking of whom…

Three years later to the day, Sumner, Hook, Morris and Gillian Gilbert , aka New Order, had a much better milestone. Their critically-acclaimed album Power, Corruption and Lies came out this day in 1983. It was their second album (also on Factory Records as the Joy Division ones were) although through the ’80s they largely were a “singles” band if you will. To that point, technically there were no singles released off this eight song effort.

They produced the record themselves but did it in style. Factory had them work at the Britannia Studios in London, a studio built by Pink Floyd where they’d recorded much of The Wall. It seemed to indicate the confidence the label had in them… or else their poor money skills!

Although they didn’t put out singles off Power, Corruption and Lies, they put it out more or less simultaneously with their very popular “Blue Monday” single. That one is by most measures the biggest-selling 12” single of all-time and was their fourth Indie #1 hit and quickly a double-platinum seller, so they were very much in the public’s minds and ears at the time. Issued on LP and cassette at the time, later CD releases of the album have generally included “Blue Monday”.

Even without the typical radio hit off it, it spawned a popular dancefloor hit, “Age of Consent”, which has been included on some of their compilation albums and other popular tracks such as “Ecstasy” and “The Village.” By now it seemed like they’d found their own sound again, with Hook’s bass borrowed from the early Joy Division but a more synthy, upbeat general feeling to the music if not always the lyrics.

The album drew great reviews then and now. Q and Rolling Stone both rated it 4-stars and the latter has ranked it as the 262^nd greatest album of all-time… rather a surprise for a publication usually favoring American sounds and traditional rock or R&B over “new wave”. They described it as a “landmark album of danceable, post-punk music” and theorized they had “moved past the death of Ian Curtis” to create “a synth-rock breakthrough.” That might not have surprised Sumner, their singer post-Curtis. He said the album was, despite what you might think, largely inspired by their visits to the U.S. They weren’t fond of much of the hit music at home then, but in the States “they played the Clash, funk and a good mix of Black & White music… we were right there and this new sound found us.”

Years later allmusic would grade it 4.5-stars and Entertainment Weekly gave it a retrospective “A” , calling it a “dance pop classic”.

Even without a single on the release, it reached #4 in the UK and topped their Indie charts, as all New Order albums on Factory ended up doing. It also did well in New Zealand (#3) and parts of Europe like Germany and Sweden, being a top 20 hit there. American-inspired or not, it didn’t make the U.S. charts but in Canada it did, unlike their debut, but peaked at #66.

If you’re British you probably are familiar with the album cover, even if you’re not a fan. The picture of flowers was taken by photographer Peter Saville. Saville did most of the Factory Records art and later took the photo of Peter Gabriel on the massive So album. He based the picture on the painting “A Basket of Roses” by French artist Latour because he said roses were seductive… like power, corruption and lies. The reason the LP probably looks familiar – in 2010, it was chosen by the UK to be one of ten record covers they’d put on postage stamps. They shared that honor with albums by the Rolling Stones, The Clash, Led Zeppelin and yes, even Pink Floyd! Not bad company to keep!